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One of the pivotal moments in American history inspires the Baltimore Ravens this season.

Americans last month honoured the 150th anniversary of the bloodiest battle ever to take place in North America -- Gettysburg.

The awe-inspiring national military park that marks the battle is located but 40 miles northwest of Ravens headquarters, and head coach John Harbaugh took his team there the first week of training camp.

“One thing we did was we made up T-shirts called ‘FIX BAYONETS,’ ” Harbaugh said in a one-on-one interview at training camp earlier this month.

That motto pays homage to the famous order given by Maine Col. Joshua Chamberlain, whose regiment’s bayonet charge against the Confederates protected the Union’s left flank on Day 2 of the epochal battle and turned the course of the war.

“You know, Chamberlain, 20th Maine, and the idea that they say we’re out of bullets and you have to surrender,” Harbaugh said, shaking his head. “That’s not us. That’s not who those soldiers were at Little Round Top at Gettysburg.

“We’ll fix our bayonets and charge. That’s what we do. That’s who we are.”

Indeed, the Ravens lost a slew of impact players from the team that won Super Bowl XLVII in February. Linebacker Ray Lewis and centre Matt Birk retired. Linebackers Paul Kruger and Dannell Ellerbe signed elsewhere, as did safety Ed Reed. Playoff-hero wideout Anquan Boldin was traded to the San Francisco 49ers.

But the Ravens impressively filled many of those holes with younger, and in some cases even better, players, such as rush linebacker Elvis Dumervil.

“We like the team we have put together,” Harbaugh said. “We all have something to prove.”

Harbaugh also told QMI Agency the following in his Q&A:

Joe Flacco told me he’ll take on more of a leadership role this season with Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and others gone, but he’ll lead in his own style.

“I don’t see it like that. I think he’s already been in that position. Joe’s already been a leader. One of Joe’s great gifts is to understand the environment of a situation and to fill the role that needs to be filled. I don’t want to take away anything that he’s done the last four years. I think he’s done a great job since he got here.”

Have you consulted anyone like a Bill Parcells on how to approach this year, in your attempt to repeat as champions? Because it sure isn’t easy.

“None of those guys have been in our situation, so the guy I consulted was my Dad. You talk to different guys at different times, sure, but I talked to my Dad, and to my brother.”

As for your brother Jim (head coach of the 49ers), did you two have time in the off-season to speak privately, at length, about the Super Bowl and all the craziness of that week?

“We did, yeah. We talked on the phone a couple of times, then we got together at the owners meetings (in March). We had a couple of dinners and a couple of lunches. That stuff, obviously, is always going to come up. There were some real honest conversations and some differences of opinion, and agreeing to disagree. Things like that.”

Such as their last play? (When Jim fumed that pass interference was not called on the Niners’ fourth-down incompletion from the Baltimore five-yard line in the final minute.)

“How many times do brothers ever agree on anything? Unless you’re fighting together. But then we went out to the waterslide and ran around with the kids and had a great time.”

Eli Manning told me that a big missing ingredient last season for the Giants, after their Super Bowl win, was the lack of a dangerous third wide receiver. You’ve lost Anquan Boldin, who was more than that. Is anybody stepping up yet to fill that role?

“I’d say it’s a work in progress. We’ll see. There are guys who are playing really well. But until we’re in games, I don’t think you get too carried away.”

Tackling to the ground in training camp. Some teams don’t like to do it much, if at all, outside of pre-season games. Yet you guys do it more than most teams. Explain your philosophy on that.

“Our philosophy is that tackling is very important … We just feel like you need to tackle -- to the ground. That’s the rules of the game.”

DEAD BUTTERFLY EFFECT

Jacoby Jones, butterfly killer? Hey, he has a good reason.

Follow along.

During an Aug. 2 interview with Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh outside team headquarters, a butterfly kept fluttering by my ear. An Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, I think.

I interrupted the interview.

“What, do you have killer butterflies down here, or something?”

Harbaugh chuckled. So did Ravens media-relations chief Chad Steele. They knew exactly what I was talking about.

“There are butterflies everywhere here! More than ever this year,” Harbaugh said. “By coincidence, my first talk to the team at camp was on the butterfly effect. You know, a butterfly that flaps its wings in Europe can cause a hurricane in the Western Hemisphere.

“Well, Jacoby Jones is from New Orleans.”

Right. The city ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The wideout and kick returner can’t abide hurricane creators.

Q&A with John Harbaugh: Ravens 'fix bayonets' to defend Super Bowl title

One of the pivotal moments in American history inspires the Baltimore Ravens this season.

Americans last month honoured the 150th anniversary of the bloodiest battle ever to take place in North America -- Gettysburg.

The awe-inspiring national military park that marks the battle is located but 40 miles northwest of Ravens headquarters, and head coach John Harbaugh took his team there the first week of training camp.

“One thing we did was we made up T-shirts called ‘FIX BAYONETS,’ ” Harbaugh said in a one-on-one interview at training camp earlier this month.

That motto pays homage to the famous order given by Maine Col. Joshua Chamberlain, whose regiment’s bayonet charge against the Confederates protected the Union’s left flank on Day 2 of the epochal battle and turned the course of the war.

“You know, Chamberlain, 20th Maine, and the idea that they say we’re out of bullets and you have to surrender,” Harbaugh said, shaking his head. “That’s not us. That’s not who those soldiers were at Little Round Top at Gettysburg.